


Complusion

by abbybear



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Compulsion, Confusion, Powerful Ezra, The Dark Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:02:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6949693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbybear/pseuds/abbybear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ezra exceeds expectations when connecting with creatures using the Force.  His abilities start to extend to human compulsion at an alarming rate, and when he controls the thoughts of even the Force-sensitive, Kanan knows the Sith will be coming for his apprentice if they ever discover the extent of his powers.  AU ending to ‘Twilight of the Apprentice'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Complusion

Chapter One: Hope

_\---_

_(One month prior to ‘Twilight’.)_

 

“Will you two stop fighting for one second?!”  

Despite his outburst, Rex and Kanan continued their “discussion” regarding Ezra’s collective training.  Hera had already vacated the cockpit after having set the Ghost to autopilot.  

“Given that he’s training to become a _Jedi_ , saber practice would seem to be a more productive use of Ezra’s time!” 

“Before he can become a _Jedi_ , the kid has know how to handle a blaster!” 

“I’m sure the kid can outshoot you, given that he’s _training to use the Force!”_

“So you think you can beat me with a gun in the fields?  Any day you want to try, I’m willing to train even _you_ to better handle--”

“Don’t even start--” 

“I fought a war side-by-side with Jedi at least a hundred times better than you!”

Ezra punched the door release, finally gaining the attention of the two as he stepped into the back of the Ghost to head to his room.

“Ezra, are you ready to learn how to handle this lovely rifle?”

“Or better yet, Padawan, would you like--?"

The door swished shut between the two men and Ezra, and their muffled arguments continued while Ezra took the few steps to stand in front of his shared room, only to find the door locked.

“Damn it, Zeb!  This is my room too!  Open the freaking door!”  After a few seconds of silence from the other side of the door, Ezra lifted his arm to (attempt to) unlock the door using his abilities.  Before he could fully concentrate, the door opened with Zeb blocking the doorway, mid-yawn.

“Aren’t you supposed to be practicing something?”

“Not until those two giant children figure out what they want me to do!  Now let me in!”  Ezra found his face covered by the Lasat’s hand when he tried to push past his roommate.

“Nope.  Go do your job.”

“Zeb!!  Seriously, get your hands off of me and move!”  As much as Ezra tried, he was held in place and at arm’s length by the now laughing Lasat.

“It’s hilarious how you try to walk and yet you’re not even moving!  Why don’t you use that Force-training you’re skipping?  Maybe you need more?  A _lot_ more?”

“I said _move_.”  Ezra’s whole body had stilled as he reached up to remove the hand from his head.  Zeb stared, his gaze glazing over as he lifted his hand and walked out of the doorway towards the cockpit.  As the door opened to reveal the still-arguing Rex and Kanan, Zeb moved past them to sit in the empty copilot seat.

“And if you try to tell me one more time--wait, Zeb?  What’s wrong?  Where’s Ezra, and why are you h--?”

“Stop, Rex.  Zeb, look at me.”  Zeb didn’t seem to notice Kanan’s request, so the Jedi moved to kneel in front of the dazed Lasat, turning his face with his hands.

“Holy Force.  EZRA!”  Kanan brushed past Rex towards the back of the ship, waving his hand to open his Padawan’s door.  Ezra was lying on his bunk with his back to the door, and Kanan moved and rolled the boy over to be greeted with a glare.

“Just leave me alone!”

“Do you have _any_ idea what you just did to Zeb?!”  Kanan pulled Ezra off of the bunk and into the cockpit to face the still-disoriented Lasat.  

“No-?”

“You compelled him!  While I _am_ highly impressed you were able to control someone as stubborn as Zeb, you can _never_ use your powers on your friends!”  

“Maybe if you hadn’t spent the last hour arguing with Rex you could have taught me how to use my powers properly!”  Ezra tried to make his way back to his room, only to have Kanan’s grip tighten on his shoulder and Rex block the exit.

“See?  This is why he needs _Jedi_ training, not blaster--!”

“Now don’t go using your inability to teach--!”

“STOP!”  

The Force flowed out of Ezra’s yell and the two men stopped, mouths hanging open.  Rex’s eyes immediately sagged and his jaw locked shut.  Kanan tried to tell Ezra that he _needed_ to stop, but his mouth was frozen open, his eyes widening as his stare seemed to melt into his apprentice's tearing blue stare as a soft whisper clouded his mind.

_‘Just stop arguing; you want to stop arguing; I told you to stop.  Now stop.’_

_Master Yoda spoke to Caleb during meditation to the class of younglings.  His master Billaba whispered to him from her grave at the feet of her clone troopers.  The Grand Inquisitor laughed at Kanan as the droid injected him with another dose of agonizing pain.  His Padawan grasped him tightly after rescue, crying and screaming at him as his form quaked against Kanan’s--_

Despite his resistance, Kanan’s mouth clamped shut,  Ezra realized his master has gone quiet along with Rex.  He blinked, looking around the cockpit to have three sets of eyes trained on him.

“What?  Guys?  You can stop screwing with me now, I know I’m not able to control any of you, especially you Kanan.  Come on!”  Ezra nervousness escalated as he received no response.  As he tried to walk past his master and the clone, he found his small frame trapped at the three all stood to surround him.

“Zeb, stop!  Rex, you can stop now...Kanan, _please!_ ”  Immediately, the three blinked and snapped their heads around, clearly confused.  Kanan reacted first, falling to his knees and grasping Ezra by the shoulders.

“Ezra!  How on Lothal did you do that?!”

“Do what?”  Kanan shook his apprentice as his hand moved to hold the boy’s cheeks, keeping their stares connected.

“You just _compelled_ me.  A Jedi!  That’s impossible!  What did you do!”

“I--don’t know?  Master?”  Ezra tried to pull out of the man’s hold only to be held tighter as a sense of unease continued to build in his chest.  After a few rushed breaths, Ezra reached out and latched onto his master’s arms.

“Did I just use the darkside?”

“No, Ezra-- _no._   That level of compulsion isn’t a dark power, nor a light power--I _never_ heard of any Jedi _or Sith_ being able to control the thoughts of a Force-sensitive.  Listen to me, Ezra,”  Kanan brushed the hair out of his Padawan’s face, doing his best to keep his composure as he stood, “You can _never_ let the Inquisitors discover this power.  If they were to find out, I have a feeling we would be seeing a lot more of them with a different intent in mind.”

“Kanan, what do you mean, ‘different--’?”

“Promise me, Ezra.”  

Ezra saw the awe, confusion, _fear_ , but most of all worry stirring in his master’s stare, so he nodded as the hands on his head ruffled his hair once more before leaving.

“So _like I said_ , I am thinking Force training is a necessity, given the circumstances.”

“Not going to argue after that charade.”

 ---

  _(Near finale of ‘Twilight’, as temple on Malachor is collapsing.)_

 

The Force was pulling him.  Barely able to keep a grasp on the holocron, Ezra tried to stop his feet from dragging him closer to the Sith Lord as he clung to Kanan’s arm. 

“No!  No no no no no no no no!“  The holocron lifted from his fingers, ready to glide into Darth Vader’s extended glove, but Ezra relocked his fingers around the slick pyramid.  

“Kanan!  It’s him!”  

His master focused on linking his grip with his Padawan through the Force as his own feet started to slide.  The iron mask concealing his damaged eyes helped him concentrate on his hold of Ezra, despite the darkness extending its reach on the two.   “I know, I got you!”

Vader continued to reach out, unaware of the charging figure from behind.  Ahsoka screamed as the Sith turned, releasing his grip on the rouge pair, just as a white blade swiped the side of his helmet.  His old apprentice rolled off and over him, and Vader screamed as the black plastic of his helm melted into his scorched cheek.

Ezra and Kanan fell backwards, but the blue-haired teen reached forward to his fallen togruta companion.

“Ashoka!  Come on, hurry!”

“Ahsoka...” Vader stood as the girl turned, consumed by the one golden eye now revealed.  She searched that familiar visage for her old master as the Sith spoke again, who allowed a false compassion to leak through his voice.  

“Ahsoka...”

That face that haunted her ever since she had walked out of the Jedi temple nearly twenty years ago watched her as she collected herself off of the ground.

“Anakin.”

Ahsoka lost herself, disappearing back to the temple on Lothal, with those words ( _'Ahsoka, why did you leave?  Where were you, when I needed you?  You abandoned me!  You FAILED ME!'_ ) keeping her twin blades at her side.

“I won’t leave you!  Not this time…”

Anakin melted in front of her as Vader ignited his red blade next to his pale skin, brightening his single yellow eye.

“Then you will die.”

“Ahsoka!”  Ezra rushed forward, leaving his blind master behind only to be pushed back, earning him a _hopeless, regretful, broken_ look.  Before he could remember his master’s previous warning, Ezra reached out with the Force, keeping the togruta’s stare locked with his own.

_‘Leave him.  Run!’_

Darth Vader lunged as Ahsoka sprung forward, sliding underneath the collapsing temple walls.  He reached one of his gloved hands forward to pull the girl back towards him, to finish the job ( _after she promised not to run once again_ ), but he found his head turn towards the the young child next to her, his blue holes for eyes reaching past the Force and into his mind.

 _‘Stop.  Leave her._ ’

_Anakin’s mother whimpered to him as her heart failed in the cold sands of Tatooine.  Chancellor Palpatine coerced him with a hand pressed into the small of his back.  Padme whispered to him, begged him, her swollen chest pressed against the hilt of his red saber.  Obi-Wan yelled at him, leaving him on the molten Mustafar floor, to go hold Anakin’s dying wife and deliver his child--no, children--_

The walls of the temple slammed shut, and Vader snapped out of his daze just in time to erect a Force shield around his fallen form as he was engulfed in light.

\---

Back on the Phantom, Ahsoka returned to herself and was in front of Ezra, who was speaking to his master softly with a hand on his bare face, just below his swollen eyes. 

“Ezra!  Vader!  Where’s Vader?  Why am I--?”  

Ahsoka moved towards the front of the small ship, automatically flipping through the Phantom’s systems until she got to navigation, ready to turn them around to go back for her master.

“Stop, Ahsoka.  The temple collapsed.  Vader was still inside.”  Ezra moved from his master to stand next to her, his eyes trained on the lines of stars pulling past them.  Ahsoka noticed the Padawan’s cheeks were damp and his arms were trembling, and she automatically wrapped her arms around his small form, doing her best to not imagine Anakin crushed inside of his black armor.

“What happened, Ezra?  I didn’t want to leave him.  Why did I leave him?”

“Ahsoka, what do you remember?”  Kanan’s voice was rough in comparison to Ezra’s soft whimpers pressed against her torso.  

“Nothing.  I was inside the temple one moment, and then--”

_Obi-Wan spoke without looking at her as the Jedi Council stripped her of her lightsabers and her status.  Anakin begged her as she left the temple, not knowing she was wiping her tears against the back of her hands her entire way out.  Yoda warned her, told her what her master had become.  Darth Vader reached out to her, black mask broken, breath strained, agony latent in his heavy words._

“--I was here, on this ship.  I just remember...memories...why--?”

“It’s my fault.  I’m sorry, Ahsoka.”  She looked down to Ezra as he looked up at her with hooded blue eyes.  

“What?  Ezra, there’s no way--”

“Actually, it is his fault.  He compelled you.  And if I’m not mistaken, you weren’t the only one he compelled.”

Kanan had moved to join them at the front of the ship, using both hands on the side of the ship to navigate to the pair.  He first found Ahsoka’s shoulder, then moved it down to the top of Ezra’s head and back, pulling his around to face him.  

“What did I tell you, Ezra?  Did you compel Vader?”

“I didn’t mean to!  Kanan, she was going to die; he was going to kill her!”  Ezra pushed out of his master’s grip to move to the back of the ship, only to be grabbed again by both Kanan and Ahsoka.

“Okay, first of all, there is _no_ way your Padawan could have compelled either me or An--Vader.  Second--”

“No, Ahsoka.  He can.”  Kanan patted until he found Ahsoka’s arm, turning his blind stare towards the togruta.  “He’s compelled me before, a few months ago.  I don’t know how, but now that the empire knows--”

“He has to be dead!  Right?  He was still in that temple, there’s no way--”  Ahsoka watched as Ezra struggled to remove his master’s grip.  She felt through the Force, moving past the pair with her on the ship to feel two others close by, both dark and cold, one far deeper than the other.

“Vader lives.  As does Maul.”

“See, Ezra!  We need to leave.  We won’t have long until they come looking for us.  This time more urgently, my guess.  I understand you felt it important.  Breathe, Padawan.”  Kanan moved so that Ezra was now leaning against his chest as he heaved.  Ahsoka watched the two and she moved to sit down, trying to remember what made her leave, what caused those memories to surface at that moment.

_‘Leave him.’  Obi-Wan told her.  Yoda warned her._

_‘Run.’  Anakin begged her.  Vader forced her._

_Ezra’s mind echoed into her own, and Ahsoka ran towards the falling wall, sliding underneath just before the temple fell._

“How?  How could an apprentice compel another Force-sensitive?  It’s impossible.”

“I wish it was, unfortunately.  How do you think Vader will react?”

Ahsoka palms felt slick against her forehead.  She try to imagine first what Anakin would recall if compelled, then what the black monster in his place would see.

“There’s something you two should know.  And depending on who saw what, we may have a much larger problem on our hands.”

\---

Vader dragged his dead leg out of the wreckage, covering his spare hand over the break in his helmet.  Once he was a safe distance from the burning template, he concentrated through the dark side, until an invisible wall sealed his mask, allowing him to evenly breathe.  He searched for his vessel to no avail, and instead escaped in one of his Inquisitors’ ships.  He flew to the closest Star Destroyer in silence, collecting his anger and frustration, trying to determine _why_ he would recall those memories of his dead prior self. 

_‘Stop.’  His current master pushed him to fall.  His old master turned from him to save his children._

_‘Leave her.’  His mother fell silent on his home planet.  His wife fell apart on his deathbed._

_A pair of haunting blue eyes kept him still until the temple fell, allowing his prior apprentice to escape him once again._

“That Jedi child.”  Vader controlled his grip to not break the ship's controls, but his fury still sparked a few buttons across his dash.

 _But why would he imagine Anakin’s child--no, children surviving?  Unless…_  

Vader landed without a word to anyone and made his way to the best ship available and took off again to his homebase.  

_But an untrained apprentice had compelled him.  He cannot believe anything nor disprove anything without answers._

Pulling up the most recent records on the rebel cell, Vader found the specific profile he was interested in.  The blue-haired boy scowled in his profile with his too-familiar blue stare unfocused.  

“Ezra Bridger....”

Knowing he would find his answers once he had this boy, Vader decided his first priority was locating and detaining the rebel cell until he had Ezra Bridger explaining to him how he compelled a Sith Lord and why he would show that Anakin Skywalker's and Padme Amidala’s dead children were alive.

\--- 

The team returned to their new base on Atollon.  Hera wept when she saw Kanan, and Ahsoka caught Rex’s stare before she retreated inside of the makeshift base, immediately pulling up star maps to plot their next course.  Ezra did his best to not to cry as he stayed at his master’s side.  He felt a strong pull from the Sith holocron clenched in his fist, and Kanan spoke to him through the Force to go find Ahsoka.  He left, ignoring Sabine’s sad stare and Zeb’s strong pat on his shoulder.

“Ezra.”  The togruta did not train her gaze away from the projected galaxy images.  Ezra moved to stand next to her, pushing the red and gold pyramid into her loose fingers.

“I can’t keep this.  I feel like it’s taking what I am feeling and...multiplying it.  When I’m near Kanan, I feel desperate and terrified.  When I’m near you, I feel…defeated.  Hopeless.”

“What did you see when you compelled me?”  Ahsoka took the holocron and placed it in front of her, navigating through the system to close in on a specific star system.

“Nothing at first.  But now...I remember that man from that Jedi holocron I opened of Kanan’s.  He refused to face you.  And that Jedi trainer from those training videos--Skywalker?  He was trying to stop you.  Then that green goblin Yoda...warning you...and…”

“Vader.”  Ahsoka finally turned to face Ezra, kneeling down to see at his level.

“Now what did you see when you compelled Vader?”

“I--don’t know.  I just saw...anger.  Death.”

“Please, Ezra.”  Ahsoka squeezed the boy’s arm.  He looked away towards the star map, face contorted.

“I saw...I think...his mother, dying.  Then an old man...forcing him away.  Then...a pretty pregnant woman crying.  And that man again from the holocron...leaving him...going somewhere…”  Ezra felt his eyes begin to water as he turned his gaze to meet Ahsoka’s.  

“...his children.  That man left to go save his children.  Darth Vader has children?”

“Vader does not.  Remember when I said...Vader was once a Jedi?  That he was my previous master, Anakin?”

Ezra nodded, puzzled.  Ahsoka’s explanation of Vader’s previous life had little meaning to Ezra, since all of the names she mentioned were before his time.  Kanan did not see to have that problem as all of his reactions were intense and matched Ahsoka’s mood.

“Anakin was...Anakin Skywalker…my master and Obi-Wan’s--that man from the Jedi holocron--apprentice.”

“But Jedi used to not be allowed to have families?  How come he had children?”

“I don’t know.  But regardless of whether or not what you showed him is true...Vader will be coming for you.  We must leave before he locates this base, to not endanger the others.”

“What about Kanan?  He needs treatment!  We can’t just drag him away from the medics here!”

“If Kanan stays and Vader tracks him here, he'll use him to draw you out.  You know your master will refuse to stay put if we leave.”

Ezra could no longer hold back his frustration, his fear, his anger. The Sith holocron beckoned him as it shifted from its position on the control panel. Ezra dropped to his knees, forcing Ahsoka’s hands to fall as he silently screamed through the onslaught of tears.

“His eyes...Maul…it’s my fault...I can't!”

The holocron began to float, and Ahsoka snatched it from the air and flung the pyramid across the room with a Force push before reaching down to pull Ezra up.

“Breathe.  Remember the Jedi way. Kanan does not blame you.   _There is no emotion, there is peace._ ”

Ahsoka felt the waves of _hate, fear, confusion_ begin to dissipate in key with her own soothing pushes. Eventually Ezra appeared calm, but the hollowness of his eyes reminded her of her master's dead gaze from only hours ago.

“Why did you leave the Jedi? I saw that man--Obi-Wan?--collect your sabers. You told me before you left voluntarily, but your memory--”

“--Is not the full story. Padawan, you must find your own inner peace rather than looking for mine. I cannot begin to grasp how you're able to compel me, Kanan, and Vader, but you cannot get lost in our memories. You managed to find our most trying times. Do not make them your own."

“I'm sorry, Ahsoka. I just don't understand why--”

“ _There is no ignorance, there is knowledge._  Take what you learn from your own experiences to build yourself.  Don't struggle to make sense of others actions. Accept them as done, and move on.”

Ahsoka couldn't remember the last time Ezra had beamed at her like he was, laughing gently as he wiped his cheeks.

“For a non-Jedi, you give good Jedi advice.  I know you're right about Kanan, if only there was some way we could help once we left…”

“There is…a Jedi skill I once focused my studies in. Force healing, through deep meditation and connection.  I could help you focus, but there is no guarantee he will regain his sight, Ezra.”

The darkness disappeared from the boy's eyes, and Ahsoka could see the faint hope and _peace_ staring back at her, reminding her whenever her master would smile even during the destruction of war.

_‘Don't forget to smile, Snips. Otherwise you'll forget what we're striving for in these dark times.’_

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic in a long time (let's just say it's been over a decade). Used to post on ff.net, mostly Harry Potter and various animes from my pre-teen years...but the ending of season two left me conflicted. I generally don't do over-powered main characters, so my hope is to keep Ezra in the dark and otherwise keep him the same strength otherwise...
> 
> My hopes is to continue this as an outlet. Hopefully it's not too cliche or angst-y (no promises), but I'm going to bring in Obi and others at some point when things get out of control. Let's just sad Vader (or Anakin) won't let go of the possibility his kids may be alive. 
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed? Leave a note if you did...also tell me if you see any issues. My writing has been sparse with having a real job (go figure), so constructive criticism is welcome. Currently not beta'd.


End file.
